Chapter Nine
An eight year old Heero laid on his bed, inside his cell. He had just finished training and was in immense pain. He heard talking and the door to his cell opened. A younger version of Raven was thrown inside the cell.
"Teach you to steel from us." a soldier sneered.
Her small hand lashed out through the bar and grabbed onto the front of the soldier's jacket. He was slammed against the metal bars and his head hit them pretty hard, causing his eyes to roll into the back of his head. She let go of him and her foot kicked him before she turned around.
"Who are you?" Heero demanded.
"Why should I tell you?" she countered.
"You were thrown in my cell, I think I have a right to know who you are." he threw back.
She turned her head away from him with a small, "hmpf" and was about to ignore him when a familiar man walked in.
"Ah...01. I see you met our intruder. She was trying to steel from the kitchens. She is quiet skilled with slipping in unnoticed. Tell me girl, you haven't been trained have you?" Dr. J asked.
The girl glared at him.
"No. Even if I was, why should I tell you?" she growled.
A smirked appeared on Dr. J's lips.
"What is your name girl? Where is your family?" he asked.
"My name is none of your business. My mother and father are dead, and I've been separated from my brothers and sister." she replied.
"Well, why don't you stay here until you remember where you're suppose to meet your family?" Dr. J offered.
She gazed suspiciously before nodding.
"You will stay in 01's cell. What should we call you? I know. We'll call you 00." he insisted.
"How about just Zero?" she retorted.
The old man nodded.
"You and 01 should get some sleep. I will speak with you in the morning." he said before leaving the cell.
The girl turned and gazed at Heero.
"We are nothing but numbers in his mind. Nice meeting you 01." she said, sitting in the darkest corner of the cell.
He glared at her but laid down and went to sleep.
A nine year old Heero ran down the winding corridors of a base. Behind him ran an eight year old Zero. He skidded to a stop as footsteps in front of him greeted his ears.
"Zero. We're stuck." he stated.
The girl nodded and her eyes seemed to turn from him to the sounds and back to him. She seemed to nod, as if making a decision. She pushed Heero against a darkened wall and her eyes closed. Heero felt something strange happen to his body and he slowed his breathing as the soldiers, charging from both sides, stopped in surprise.
"They're gone." they said, looking around the room.
"They must've gone through a vent." another one said.
Heero felt a hand grab his and they seemed to disappear. When they reappeared they were standing in front of a darkened forest. Away from it the base they were once in.
"01, the trigger." Zero reminded.
Heero grabbed the detonator from his pocket and clicked the button on the top. A loud bomb was heard as the base went up in flames and smoke.
"Let's go." Zero said, running into the forest.
Heero followed until they got a few miles into the forest and she stopped running.
"What happened back there? Why couldn't they see us?" he demanded.
Heero watched as Zero's body disappeared within the darkness of the trees. A whispered "boo" was heard behind him causing him to jump and turning around. She was standing behind him.
"I call it Shadow Jumping. I don't know how, but I envision myself within the shadows and it worked." she explained.
"Well can you Shadow Jump us back to the base?" he asked.
She grabbed onto his arm and the same sensation went through him. Soon enough they were standing in front of Preventers Base. They ran towards it only to see Dr. J standing there, a frown on his face.
Screams could be heard throughout the base, but every soldier ignored it. All but Heero's ten year old form. He laid in his bed, trying to close out the screams. Guilt ebbed away at him. It was his fault.
Zero was currently being punished for saving him from a base that was about to explode. He had been shot in the back of his leg and couldn't walk. Zero had ran out of the base, carrying him just in time as the base exploded.
The cell door opened and Zero's limp body was tossed roughly onto the floor of the cell. Once the soldiers disappeared Heero stood up and limped over to her body. He dropped to the ground beside her and noticed her clothes were ripped and torn to shreds.
"01....help..me..up." Zero's voice asked weakly.
Heero, ignoring his pain, stood up and helped her to the bed. He sat her down and she leaned against his shoulder.
"I'm sorry Zero. It's all my fault." he said, tears leaving his eyes.
"Don't worry 01. You would've done the same for me." she replied in a whisper.
He brushed his tears away and noticed her eyes were clouded over with them.
"What's wrong? You know you can cry around me." he said.
"I use to be able to. That bastard did something to me. I can't cry. Inwardly I can, but not outwardly. I can't cry anymore." her voice cried out with sorrow.
She pushed off and pulled her shirt over her head and took it off, revealing all the cuts, lashes and welts she had received because of him. Yet, there was something else.
On the small of her back was a black, tattoo like painting. It was a black heart, with a Z in the middle of it, the same color as her skin. His hand traced over it, to feel warmth from it.
"Where did you get that?" he asked, noticing the skin around it was a little red.
"Just two minutes ago. He branded me. He burned it into my skin. 'A mark of failure' he said it was." she replied.
An eleven year old Heero stood outside the base. Standing in front of him was Zero, at the age Ten. Bag set at her feet.
"I'm sorry I must leave 01. I can't stay here. He'll figure out those plans wont match the components with the Gundams, and I don't want to be here when he does. I will not forget you. I promise." she vowed.
"No lie? You wont forget me. After you found your family, you wont forget me?" he asked.
"I vowed a long time ago that I would never lie to you 01. I could never look you in the eyes and lie to you. I wont forget you." she promised.
"I wont forget you either." he vowed.
She reached up and kissed him on the lips softly. That surprised him somewhat, but he responded nonetheless.
"Good bye 01." she said as she pulled away from the embrace.
The shadows enveloped her body and she disappeared.
"I'm afraid she is your weakness 01. So I must get rid of her." Dr. J's voice said.
Heero's twelve year old body laid on the top of a hospital bed. He felt a small prick on the side of his neck and he felt everything drift into darkness.
"Bastard..." he whispered.
Zero I'm sorry, he thought sadly.
Heero Yuy jerked awake. He gazed around at the white walls as familiar, clean smell reached his nose. A small beeping sound filled his ears causing him to gaze at the machine beside him, lines jerking slowly with every breath he took.
I'm in a hospital, he concluded.
His eyes gazed at a familiar group, asleep around his bed. All were there, except that Marquis guy and Raven. His eyes downcast when the door opened softly.
Raven entered, her eyes filled with guilt as she walked into the room. She looked at the awakened Heero with surprise.
"You are awake. That's a relief. They were worried." she said, motioning to the group that slept on the ground around his bed.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"Local hospital. You've been out for almost three months. You over exerted yourself in the fight and you blacked out when you hit your head." she explained.
Heero nodded when he realized she hadn't said she was worried. She said they were worried. He glared inwardly.
She's the enemy. People change, he thought darkly.
His gaze turned back to Raven, who glared at him and turned around. She left the room, the door slamming. The girls, Wufei, Quatre and Trowa jerked awake, Missy's foot lashing out and hitting Duo, causing him to jump up with a yelp. They all gazed up at him.
"HEERO! YOU'RE AWAKE!" Duo, Quatre and the girls cried out with relief.
He nodded softly, his eyes glancing at the door.
"She probably went to the room down the hall. That's where Nikolai is held." Missy said.
"Yeah, Raven left a few days after you were admitted. She hadn't returned for about three days." Duo remembered.
"How cold hearted could you get? Leaving the person you injured alone without an explanation." Alex growled.
Heero shrugged, not understanding why his chest tightened at the thought.